The government has assured assistance to the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the Kuwaiti government’s suspension of work visas, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday.
DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes said the affected OFWs would be
included in the National Reintegration Program of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), among other forms of assistance.
Reports said the government of Kuwait has suspended the issuance of new entry visas for Filipinos into the Gulf state.
Cortes said the department received an official note from Kuwait suspending new visas on Saturday.
“We were told that it is only for those who are new – meaning if you do not have a resident visa or what they call ‘iqama’… you cannot enter. But if you come back to Kuwait because you’ve been working there, you can enter,” Cortes said.
A delegation of officials from the DFA and DMW will travel to Kuwaitthis month as part of the ongoing discussions between the Philippines and Kuwait to tackle labor concerns.
“Kuwait and the Philippines always have discussions very often,” Cortes said. “It’s a constant communication forum that we have instituted – not only with Kuwait but all the others to make sure we’re always on track as far as protection and promotion of the well-being of our migrants are concerned.”
The OFWs who were recently rescued from Sudan received livelihood support and assistance, including $200, care of the DMW.
American business firms have expressed interest in employing the displaced OFWs. There are employers in the US and also in the cruise ship industry and in Saudi Arabia that are interested and would like to see the profiles of Filipino workers rescued from Sudan.
Kuwaiti media said the ban stemmed from the Philippines’ alleged non-compliance with the 2018 labor accord concerning the operation of a temporary shelter for distressed Filipinos inside the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait.
Cortes, however, said Manila did not violate the deal if this was indeed Kuwait’s reason because the establishment of shelters inside the embassies, now known as Migrant Workers Overseas Filipino Resource Centers (MWOFRC), is mandated under Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
“We could not have agreed to a provision that will allow us not to establish a shelter for our countrymen because that’s our law. Of course, whenever we have an agreement with another country, we always connect that with our domestic legislation,” he said.
He said the operation of these shelters abroad is non-negotiable and would remain in operation regardless of the outcome of the upcoming talks.
“Our law is clear. We have to have a shelter for our countrymen,” he said.
Cortes said the DFA would also explain the deployment ban forhousehold service workers (HSWs), which he believes could have been a “source of confusion” for the Kuwaiti side.
The ban only covers the contracts of first-time HSWs bound for Kuwait and was imposed in February after the brutal death of Jullebee Ranawa, whose charred remains were found in a desert in Kuwait this year.
Cortes said the meeting this month with Kuwaiti officials is timely asit was already set even before the issue of the entry ban came up.
The upcoming high-level talks, he said, are part of the regular discussions between the Philippines and Kuwait concerning the more than 290,000 overseas Filipinos there.
According to the DFA, around 70 percent of the OFWs in Kuwait are household workers.